My favorite thing: Dartmouth Park offers green space in urban core

Dartmouth Park is a natural oasis tucked away in the midst of Orlando's urban core.

The small strip of greenery lies just north of downtown Orlando between Edgewater and Westmoreland drives in College Park, Orlando's first suburb dating back to the 1920s.

The park gained some publicity in May when a Florida black bear briefly dropped by.

Dartmouth Park is narrow and about a block long, but it contains everything needed to enjoy the outdoors: a playground, a twisting sidewalk with exercise stations and two pavilions for birthday parties or other family events.

It is a magnet for dog walkers and joggers, a place where you can run into everyone from your next-door neighbor to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who lives a few blocks north and occasionally brings his dog there.

And each spring, the Sunday in the Park festival at Dartmouth Park brings everyone in the neighborhood together.

Mark Skoneki is the politics and education editor of the Orlando Sentinel.